The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - edition reliée, livre de poche

We do  not come  to  Marcus Aurelius  for a treatise on Stoicism. He is no head  of a school to lay down  a body  of doctrine for students; he does not even contemplate that others should read what he writes. His philosophy is not an eager intellectual inquiry, but more what we should call religious feeling. The uncompromising  stiffness of  Zeno  or  Chrysippus is  softened  and  transformed by passing through a nature  reverent and  tolerant, gentle and  free from  guile; the grim resignation which made life possible to the Stoic sage becomes in him  almost a mood of aspiration. His book records the innermost thoughts of his heart, set down  to ease it, with such  moral maxims and  reflections as may  help him  to bear the burden  of duty and the countless annoyances of a busy  life. It is instructive  to compare the Meditations with another famous  book,  the Imitation of Christ. There  is the same ideal of self-control in  both. It should be a man’s  task, says the Imitation, “to overcome himself, and every day to be stronger than himself.” “In withstanding of the passions standeth very peace of heart.” “Let us set the axe to the root, that we being purged of our passions may  have a peaceable  mind.”  To this end  there must be continual  self-examination.